Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone
Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone ( Papa was a drifter ) is the title of a soul songs , which by the year 1971 Tamla-Motown - songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong was written and originally performed by the Motown group The Undisputed Truth comes. The best known version, often thought to be the original, comes from The Temptations .
History of origin
The successful authors Whitfield / Strong initially had many hits with the Tamla Motown standard repertoire of three-minute songs on love topics, such as I Heard It Through the Grapevine , which was named a million seller by two different interpreters in 1967 and 1968 .
Increasingly, however, they turned away from this and began mainly to write songs about social and political issues, preferably in excess length. Barrett Strong's sensitive texts now dealt with wars, environmental destruction and family crises. They used the Temptations or Edwin Starr as a vehicle for this . But the completely unknown psychedelic funk band “Undisputed Truth” also profited from this genre, which is risky for the record company. In Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone describes questioned as the son of his mother about his father, whom he has never seen. He learns that his alcoholic father had three other children with another woman and never went to work. Instead, he preached in front of shop windows, left his family, and lived on the streets from then on. His home was where he hung his hat - he was a "drifter". The expression was by no means foreign to blues and pop music; early examples include Muddy Waters ' blues title Rollin' Stone (published June 1950), after which the Rolling Stones were named. Even Otis Blackwell used it in his own composition Daddy Rolling Stone (October 1953) or Bob Dylan protest song Like a Rolling Stone (June 1965).
Undisputed Truth recorded the song with the explosive content May 9, 1972 (Gordy # 7117), it was published in June 1972. achieved your original rank only 24 of the Rhythm & Blues - hit parade . Joe Harris, Billie Rae Calvin and Brenda Joyce sang the song accompanied by the Motown session band The Funk Brothers .
First cover version
Work on the version of the Temptations began as early as May 15, 1972 . The duration of the original of 3:26 min. was at the Temptations on 6:54 min. (Single) and 11:47 min. (LP) and thus went beyond the musical framework of the repertoire concept of this record label. The extended intro of 4:39 min. has a high acoustic recognition value due to the increasing instrumentation. The bass lines of a bass guitar are underlaid by a hi-hat and justify the musical theme consisting of three notes, which is followed by a blues guitar and a guitar with wah-wah effect . After the Wurlitzer electric piano and clapping hands, violins repeat the sequence of notes. The orchestral and symphonic instrumentation is repeated after all three stanzas, with only one chord being used - namely B minor. Dennis Edwards , Melvin Franklin , Richard Street and Damon Harris each sing alternately as lead voices. In addition to these, the background vocals are taken over by Otis Williams , the complex arrangement came from Paul Riser . One recording day was not enough for this lavish Whitfield production, but on June 14, 22 and 28, 1972, additional recording dates with the Temptations and the musicians were scheduled. The group did not agree with the instrumental dominance and complained directly to label owner Berry Gordy , who, however, left Whitfield with artistic freedom.
First the long version appeared in August 1972 on the Temptations album All Directions , then it was decided to release the track , shortened to just under seven minutes, on September 28, 1972 on Gordy # 7121 as a single, only four records after the original. The version of the Temptations easily made it to first place on the US pop hit parade and reached the status of a million-seller in January 1973 , because it sold over two million copies.
The title received three Grammys ; in June 1973 Undisputed Truth included him on the album Law of the Land . The title received a BMI award .
While the version of The Undisputed Truth was forgotten in the US and the Temptations version is often considered the original, its version has become an evergreen in pop history that is still airplayed and played in discos.
More cover versions
Coverinfo lists a total of 41 cover versions of the title. In June 1990, brought Was (Not Was) , in April 1993 George Michael on with Queen issued EP Five live a socket on the market. In 2010 Phil Collins contributed another version on his album Going Back .
The song allowed a variety of pastiche forms. In 1993 the schoolchildren tried to draw attention to themselves with Papa was a Kullerstein , the Original Deutschmacher published their version in 1996 under the title Papa was a rolling stone . The comedy group Herbert Knebel's Affentheater brought out a version "Papa was at the Rolling Stones" in September 2001, which is about the alleged fatherhood of Brian Jones . In 2003, Stefan Gwildis published a German-language adaptation with Papa doesn't want to live anymore . In the text he wrote together with Michy Reincke , he tells how a boy is confronted with his father's Stasi past after the fall of the Berlin Wall .
Web links
- Audio sample Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone Ogg format ("The Undisputed Truth", 29 sec.) In the English language Wikipedia
Individual evidence
- ↑ (Meaning of) rolling stone. dictionary.com, accessed January 31, 2014 .
- ↑ Gerald Posner: Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power . 2003, p. 268 f.
- ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 357
- ↑ Mark Ribowsky, Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations , 2010, p. 234